Shirt



Dec. 3, 1929. J. w. CHAMPION 1,737,875

SHIRT Filed Sept. 28, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 A Q N LfiZl/' I @7216 Z, /aaxl oa'yo I MM,W% M

Dec. 3, 1929. J. w. CHAMPION SHIRT 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Sept. 28. 1928 3, J. w. CHAMPION 7,8

SHIRT Filed Sept. 28, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 3, 1929. J. w. CHAMPION SHIRT Filed Sept. 28, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Dec. 3, 1929 UNl'lltD STATES PATENT err-"ice JOHN W. CHAMPION, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, AS$IGNOB TO RELIANCE MANUFAC- TURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS SHIRT Application filed September 28, 1928.

My invention concerns improvements in shirts, and more especiallyalthough not necessarilywork shirts.

The principal object of my invention is a shirt construction wherein the yoke is arranged better to take the strains to which the shoulder portions and upper back portions of the shirt are subject, and a construction which will still lend itself to economical cutting and production.

The foregoing and further objects, features and advantages of my invention are set forth in the following description of a specific em bodiment thereof and in the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a back view of a shirt as it would lie flat on a table;

Fig. 2 is a similar front View;

Fig. 3 is a top view of the shoulder of the shirt as it would appear lying flat upon a table;

Fig. 4 is the pattern for the yoke;

Fig. 5 is a layout for the yoke pat-terns showing how they internest for economical cutting, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the shirt as it would appear on a wearer.

For convenience I will follow the preferred manufacturing steps in describing the con struction of .the shirt illustrated.

The back piece 10 preferably extends as a continuous piece from the tail to the shoulder seam 11. A yoke 12 which is contoured at its forward side similarly to the upper end of the back piece, is laid upon the upper end of the back piece and stitched thereto along the stitching 13 at the arcuate rearward edge of the yoke. This forms in effect a double thickness for the yoke.

The right and left front pieces 14 extend from the front tail to the shoulder seam 11. A crescent-shaped under-arm reinforcing piece 15 is laid upon each of the front pieces about the margin of their arm hole openings and stitched to the front pieces by the stitching 16 along the inner edges of the crescentshaped pieces. The front pieces are therefore of double thickness at the region of the armhole openings. A group of ventilating eyelets 17 are preferably placed under the Serial No. 308,936.

arm pits and through both thicknesses of the front pieces, and serve not only as ventilating eyelets but as further means of holding the superposed layers of material in place.

The assembled front pieces and their crescent-shaped reenforcements are then sewn along the shoulder seam 11 to the assembled back piece and yoke. The assembled collar and neck band 18 is secured by stitching 19 along the upper edge of the left front piece, along the arcuately cut-out forward edges of the assembled yoke and back piece, and along the upper edge of the right front piece. The sleeves 20 on which the cuffs and cuff openings have previously been formed (but which have not yet been seamed into tubular form) are sewn flatthat is, by a three-needle machine if desired-by the sleeve seam 21, to the respective arm openings along the assembled front pieces and their crescent-shaped reenforcements and along the arm openings of the assembled back piece and yoke. The sleeves are then closed up, or seamed into tubular form, by sleeve seams 22 starting at the cuffs and extending to the annular sleeve seam 21 and continued therebeyond as a side body seam 28, closing up the body by stitching the lateral edges of the back piece to the lateral edges of the respective front pieces. The forward edge of the yoke follows a line slightly forward of, but substantially parallel to, the ridge 2 1 of the shoulder as in the customary design of yoke. However, the rearward edge .of the yoke is not cut straight as is customary. It is cut arouately so that at each side itis substantially parallel with the forward edge of the yoke, in stead of making a tapering angle with. the forward edge of the yoke as would be the case if the back edge of the yoke were cut straight. One resultant advantage is [a greatly improved appearancegiving the shirt a more tailored look.

Vhile the rearward edge of the yoke can be considered as arc-uately .cut, it fol'lowsexcept for a short region at the middle of the back-a line which if extended would ex.- tend from a point C a slight distance below the center of the neck hand to thepoint E at which point the .elbow of the wearer comes.

Gne of the outstanding features of my invention is that I have arranged the stitching along the rearward edge of the yoke to fall along the line of major strains to which the shoulders of the shirt are subjected.

One of the severest strains to which a work shirt is subjected is that occasioned by the wearer crooking his elbow and throwing his arm forwardly. The strain can be analyzed as a pull concentrated at the elbow point E and a resistance as being olfered by the opposite shoulder. This opposite shoulder resist-- ance can be considered-when the shirt is lying on a fiat tableas being concentrated at the center line of the shirt and slightly below the neck band. WVhen the shirt is laid flat,.an extension of the line CE would apparently extend to a point S beyond or rather above the opposite shoulder. But it must be borne in mind that the upper back and shoulders of the average man are rounded to a considerably spherical convexity. The shortest line along the surface would not, when the shirt was spread out flat on the table, be a straight line. Rather it-would be deflected downwardly or rearwardly at the line CS to define the true line of resultant strain to the opposite shoulder when the shirt is on the wearer.

When the strain imposed across the back of the shirt results from a pull from both elbow points, as when the wearer crooks both his elbows and throws his arms forwardly, the strain will not be along the straight line (Fig. 1) as it might at first appear. lieferring again to the spherical convexity of the wearers back, an analogy can be drawn to a terrestrial globe. The shortest line along the surface is not a parallel of latitude, nor. as would be the case if the shirt, or map, were spread out flat on the table, would it be a straight line. It would be a great circle. The curve which I have given the rear edge of the yoke may be considered analogous to a great circle to the spherical convexity of the wearers back which approximates the real line of strain imposed by a position of the sort just described.

In my construction of shirt the back edge of the yoke is peculiarly well adapted to carry such ,a tensional strain. The straight of the goods in both the back piece 10 and the yoke 12 runs parallel with and transverse l to the center line of the back, as indicated in Fig. 1. The curvature of the back edge of the yoke, as shown by the pattern layout of Fig. 4, is formedfor convenience in cut- 'tingby the two angularly disposed lines gree of curvature and the length of the arc is suificient to give a very decided oblique or bias cut to the rearward edge of the yoke from the sleeve seam to a point adj acent-the center line of the back. The rear yoke seam therefore follows the bias of the goods as regards both the back piece 10 and the superposed yoke 12. A piece of woven fabric is much stronger'as against tearing when the strain comes along a bias than when it comes along the straight of the goods. This is be cause a strain along a line on the straight of the goods must be carried by but a rela tively few longitudinal threads. But when the strain is along a line on the bias of the goods the strain is divided among all of the longitudinal threads and all of the transverse threads which intersect the line of strain. And if the strain be along the bias of the goods, not only will the goods withstand a greater pull, but the goods will offer greater stretch.

I secure not only the advantage of double thickness of goods along the bias strain, but I also provide for the auxiliary aid of the threads of the stitching along the back edge of the yoke for carrying unusually severe strains. It is especially desirable to take advantage of the potential longitudinal strain absorbing qualities of the stitching when a triple stitching is used as is customary in work shirts.

l/V hen stitching lies along the straight of the goods, it is impossible for the stitching to carry any substantial portion of the strain. This isbecause the threads of the stitching weaving in and out through the goods, are necessarily held in slightly slackened position. Before the threads can be drawn taut to absorb this inherent slack and start to ab sorb a longitudinal strain, the goods through which thethieads pass,must itself be stretched to a suihcient extent. When the threads extend along the straight of the goods the goods cannot be stretched suiiiciently to bring the stitching threads taut. The only time the stitching threads would come into play would be after the threads of the goods had been ruptured.

But when the stitching extends along the bias of the goods sufficient stretch is allowed by the goods under an excessive strain to permit the threads of the stitching becoming taut. After such an excessive strain or pull has been reached, the tension resisting properties of the thread are brought into play as an auxiliary means for strengthening the garment along the line of the strain. Under such circumstances the tension resisting properties of the goods, when pulled on a bias, and the tension resisting properties of the thread when pulled taut, are simultaneously combined to offer a maximum resistance to strain. Acting simultaneously they oifer a far greater resistance to the strain than could be had were the tension resisting properties of the stitching threads brought into play after the threads of the goods had been ruptured.

The yoke of my shirt is of a pattern which is economical to cut from the goods, and readily lends itself to quantity cutting. The front and back edges of the yoke being parallel, permits the patterns on the cutting layout to be internestcd as shown in Fig. 5. The only portions cut out are the cutout sectors for the neck band.

I prefer to provide reenforcing and ventilating eyelets 26 in the yoke adjacent its rearward edge and opposite the collar. These eyelets, similarly to the eyelets 17, serve to hold the superposed goods of the yoke in position on the goods of the back piece. These eyelets serve to prevent either the yoke layer or the back piece layer of the goods absorbing more than its share of any strains directed along" lines intersecting the region of the eyelets.

The eyelets act as strain-absorbing means auxiliary to the rearward yoke seam 13 be cause they are very closely spaced therefrom.

The ventilating function of the eyelets provides a comforting coolness to the shoulder of the wearer at the region where the binding strain is the greatest and also at the region where the goods is of double thickness and consequentl more inclined to feel hot.

It is to be noted also that the eyelets are so placed that while coming substantially in the line of strain, they are placed at positions in the goods where the line of strain runs at a. bias to the straight of the goods. As a result the eyelets are not so easily torn as they would be if they were placed where the strain came along the straight of the goods and the goods could not stretch.

By elbow point, as I use the term in its ordinary meaning in the trade, I mean the point at which the elbow comes into contact with the sleeve when the wearer crooks his elbow. This, as shown in Fig. 1 would be about midway the upper and lower edges of the sleeve when the shirt is laid flat on the table. This point when on a wearer is shown in Fig. 6. I realize, of course, that when the wearer rotates his arm out of normal position, his elbow moves away from this particular point.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

1. The combination with a. shirt having a back piece and separate sleeves, of a yoke seamed to the back piece by stitching along the rearward edge of the yoke, the rearward edge of the yoke being conformed as substantially a continuous curve from one sleeve to the opposite sleeve with a high point at the center of the back, said curve being such that on each side of the center line of the back the curve, throughout the major portion of its length, extends substantially along a line directed its forward edge similarly with and stitched to the upper end of the back piece, the rearward edge of the yoke being concavely curved from sleeve to sleeve and seamed by stitched threads along its rearward edge to the-back piece, each lateral side of said last mentioned seam, throughout the greater portion of its length and adjacent the sleeve, being substantially along a line directed from the opposite shoulder toward the elbow point of the sleeve.

3. A work shirt having separate sleeves and a collar, comprising a back piece and a pair of front pieces, the former being seamed to the latter by stitching extending from the sleeves to the collar and forwardly of but parallel with the ridge of the shoulder, and a yoke member superimposedupon the upper end of the back member and conformed at its forward edge similarly with and stitched to the upper end of the back piece, the rearward edge'of the yoke being concavely curved from sleeve to sleeve and seamed by stitched threads along its rearward edge to the back piece, each lateral side of said last mentioned seam, throughout the greater portion of its length and adjacent the sleeve, being substantially along a line directed from the opposite shoulder toward the elbow point of the sleeve, said yoke being so cut relative to the straight of the goods that the said greater portions of the length of the right and left sides of the rearward yoke seam extend on the bias.

4. A work shirt having separate sleeves I and a collar, comprising a back piece and a pair of front pieces, the former being seamed to the latter by stitching extending from the sleeves to the collar and forwardly of the ridge of the shoulder, and a yoke member superimposed upon the upper end of the back member and conformed at its forward edge similarly with and stitched to the upper end of the back piece, the rearward edge of the yoke being concavely curved from sleeve to sleeve and seamed by stitched threads along its rearward edge to the back piece, each lateral side of said last mentioned seam, throughout the greater portion of its length and adjacent the sleeve, being substantially along a line directed from the opposite shoulder toward the elbow point of the sleeve, said yoke being so cut relative to the straight of the goods that the said greater portions of the length of the right and left sides of the rearward yoke seam 6X- tend on the bias, and reenforcing and ventilating eyelets perforating the combined layers of the back piece and yoke and stitching them together about the margins of the perfora tions, said eyelets being positioned oneither' side of the center line of the back piece ad-' 5 jacent said bias-cut rearward edge of the yoke whereby the major tensional strains imposed upon the superimposed goods at the regions of said eyelets extend along the bias of the l goods for the purposes described.

5. A shirt comprising a body piece covering the back and shoulders, sleeves secured thereto, and a yoke superposed on the body piece and extending from sleeve to sleeve across the shoulders and stitched to the body piece along the rearward edge of the yoke on a continuous concave curve from sleeve to sleeve along a line directed from the opposite shoulder toward the elbow points of the respective sleeves.

6. A shirt comprising a body piece covering the back and shoulders, sleeves secured thereto, and a yoke superposed on the body piece and extending from sleeve to sleeve across the shoulders and stitched to the body piece along the rearward edge of the yoke on a continuous concave curve from sleeve to sleeve directed toward the elbow points of the respective sleeves, the back piece and the yoke being so cut relative to the straight of the goods that said stitching extends from the sleeves inwardly along the bias of the goods.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 24th day of September, 1928; JOHN W. CHAMPION. 

